How to Speed Up Your Computer

3D render of a tortoise with a computer

IS YOUR COMPUTER GOING SLOW?

Quite often we are asked, “My computer is going slow. Is there anything I can do about it?” The answer is it really depends on why the computer is going slow. Read below to see some quick ways to determine if the slowness is due to a hardware issue.

Please note:
Many times it is a software issue,
which we will discuss at a later time!

 

 

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES?

In this week’s newsletter, we will discuss
how one can determine if it is one of the
common scenarios:

1. Not enough RAM
2. Not enough space on the hard drive

 

 

 

RAM

How to determine if have the ability to upgrade:

Inside every computer there are several slots for RAM. The sticks of RAM come in different
quantities of MB/GB, therefore the first step is to see if you can upgrade. To determine this:

1. Go to WWW.CRUCIAL.COM
2. Select “SYSTEM SCANNER”
3. Select “SCAN MY COMPUTER”
4. Select checkbox which agrees to term and conditions
5. Select “DOWNLOAD THE SCANNER”
6. It depends on your browser if it will automatically download or a window will pop up. If a window pops up, select “SAVE FILE”
7. Open the file “CRUCIALSCAN.EXE
8. Select “RUN” if prompted
9. A new window will open, displaying how much RAM you currently have, in how many slots, how the slots are situated on the mother board, how many slots are available and what the maximum amount of RAM your computer can handle.

RAM is interchangeable, in that you can remove what you have, or simply add RAM in the extra slots.

How to determine what percentage of the RAM you are currently using:

To determine what percentage of RAM is currently being used, we will check the task manager. This gauge is slightly tricky, since it shows what is currently being used at the moment, which constantly changes. Therefore we recommend looking at the task manager immediately after you turn on the computer and after you opened all your usual programs (i.e. Outlook, Word, and Internet Browsers…) in order to compare the percentage of RAM used when no programs are running and when everything is running. To check it out, follow these steps:


1. Press “CTRL” + “ALT” + “DELETE”
2. Select the “PERFORMANCE” tab
3 Look at the “PHYSICAL MEMORY” box

The PHYSICAL MEMORY box shows in kilobytes the amount of total and available RAM.

At what point should you purchase new RAM?
There are 3 numbers which you should look at in the Task Manager to determine this.

(A) Total physical memory
(B) Available physical memory
(C) PF usage

The PF usage (page file) is the amount of memory currently being used. Therefore if the PF usage exceeds the total physical memory, we recommend purchasing or upgrading your RAM.

PLEASE NOTE:
If you are not using most of the RAM in your computer, then the RAM is not the issue.
If you are using most of your RAM, replacing the RAM will assist in speeding up your computer. However, if there is a software issue as well, replacing the RAM might not be enough or the correct solution.

We recommend:
A minimum of 4 GB of RAM for Windows Vista and 7 users, but it depends on each users specific needs to determine what would be optimal for each user.

 

 

 

HARD DRIVE

How to determine how much of your
hard drive you are currently using:

FOR WINDOWS XP:
1. Select ‘MY COMPUTER”
2. Right click “LOCAL DISK (C:)
3. Select “PROPERTIES”
4. You will see a pie graph demonstrating the percentage of free versus used space.

FOR WINDOWS VISTA AND 7:
1. Select “COMPUTER”
2. Under “LOCAL DISK (C:) you will see the amount of space used versus free on your hard drive.

Please note:
Many times the cause for a full hard drive is music or video files. If so, a cost analysis should be done if storing the information on the internal hard drive is the best option.

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